Now Spring is truly here, it is exciting to see how green everywhere has become again. Most trees are now fully covered in their leaves and while walking through the woods you can look up and experience the tree canopy as a shady tunnel.
Out and About – foraging for leaves
While you are out walking today, forage for a variety of different fallen leaves. Remember that they should be found and not picked. Try and collect as many different sizes and shapes as possible. They can be used for the Leaf Maths activity (see below) or to create some wild art once you are back home. You could even try to identify which tree they are from using the SWT tree ID sheet below.
sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/learning- resources
In the garden – Giant Bubbles
For the bubble mixture method:
Add 1 cup of cornflour and 1 cup of washing up liquid to a bucket and stir together.
Add 2 more cups of cold water and stir again.
Add 10 more cups of water and stir.
Leave to settle for a few minutes.
If the mixture separates give it another stir.
There are lots of ways to make a wand and they can be of different sizes and shapes. here are three ideas for making different wands-
Use a bendy stick or piece of willow, bend it round to make a circle at the top end and secure with string. Leave a length for the handle.
Or hollow out a length of elder with a tent peg (to remove the soft inner pith) and use a thin wire or pipe cleaner to make the loop and push both ends inside the elder.
Or use a regular stick and pipe cleaner and secure the looped pipe cleaner with string.
Staying at home – Leaf Maths
Can you work out the length, perimeter and areas of different leaves? Hint – a ruler, string and squared paper may help. Do the longest leaves always have the largest area and perimeter?